


Underrated

by spiralcadence



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, M/M, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-09
Updated: 2014-08-09
Packaged: 2018-02-12 10:12:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2105841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spiralcadence/pseuds/spiralcadence
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One last meeting before Bumblebee returns to Cybertron.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Underrated

**Title:** Underrated  
 **Pairing:** Thundercracker x Bumblebee  
 **Prompt:** Thanks for the Memories  
 **Word Count:** 1884  
 **Warnings:** Spoilers, Character Death  
  
 **Notes:** It’s been a very long time since I’ve bothered to write anything. Hopefully this doesn’t suck, but there definitely needs to be more love for these two.  
  


* * *

  
  
“So you’re going to go.”  
  
Bumblebee wasn’t even fully inside the place that the now ex-Seeker called home. They both felt the call of Cybertron. The pull to return to their home. Now that Spike was on the run and their tech destroyed by one Jazz, there was little reason to stay. No, that wasn’t quite right. The truth was that Bumblebee still felt like there was work to be done here on Earth. However, there were logical reasons, as Prowl pointed out, that required their hasty return to Cybertron. Said comrade opposed Bumblebee taking off to Thundercracker’s place - it was no secret that the saboteur spent most of his free time with the jet. Bee considered themselves friends.  
  
“Yeah,” he replied, ducking his head as he made his way to those massive TV screens. Their glow casted hard shadows on Thundercracker’s face and Bumblebee knew that it was just his imagination. Thundercracker’s face _always_ looked like that. Strong. Proud. The jet was an honorable warrior with indifferent features.   
  
Of course the yellow Autobot knew better. His friend was anything but unfeeling. Those wings were held taught, tense. Thundercracker was the master of glaring, with only Megatron being superior, but the way his optics were dim around the edges told Bee a much different story. The jet was bracing himself  for this news as if he expected it to come from day one. This realization made Bumblebee’s tanks sink. He didn’t want to be the source of his friend’s distress, even if the idiot was trying to hide it.   
  
“I was hoping that you’d come with,” Bee said, drawing closer to the former Decepticon. It was a futile effort and they both knew that too, just like they knew that Bumblebee and the rest of the Autobots would go. They were stupidly duty bound like that. There was still the need to throw the offer out there, a subtle way of saying that Bee _wanted_ Thundercracker to come with them.  
  
The offer was met with a snort and the larger Cybertronian didn’t even bother to turn around. Looking Bee in the optics wouldn’t change his mind, but it would make him _want_ to change his mind. There was no one that held that sort of power over him, but that little Autobot. Thundercracker, as they both knew, was done with it all. He wanted nothing to do with Decepticons or Autobots, present company exempt of course. Despite how he might have wanted Bee to stay with _him_ , he would never say it. That was the beauty of this _relationship_ he had with the other - he never really needed to say much and Bumblebee simply _understood him_.   
  
“They still won’t follow you,” Thundercracker said instead, trying to twist a barb into Bumblebee’s side. It wouldn’t work, as the little guy was as stubborn as his spark’s intent was pure.  
  
Bumblebee snorted, a slight laugh, and Thundercracker’s frown hardened. That was a topic that they both discussed quite heatedly. Thundercracker was forever convinced that since Bee wasn’t _Prime_ , that no one would ever fully accept his leadership. Hell, Bumblebee never wanted it to begin with so the jet just didn’t understand why the Autobot struggled in vain to get some sort of recognition. On the other hand, Bumblebee didn’t want to let anyone down. There was a degree of jealousy burning in his lines, but there was no helping that.   
  
“I know,” he replied, finally at Thundercracker’s side. His touch on the jet’s arm was gentle. Then again, most things about Bee were gentle when it came right down to it.  
  
Huffing, Thundercracker yanking his arm away. He didn’t turn off any of the screens nor did he look at Bumblebee either. Bee’s optics never once left the ex-Seeker either as he continued the thinly disguised fit. There was a self made chair that Thundercracker settled down in, features still set in stone, but Bee saw the anger burning under amber glass. He was always like this, really. For a soldier that acted stoic and the like, he certainly knew how to throw a tantrum when things were not going his way or when he was merely upset. The way his jaw was set and the angle of that frown were as easy for Bee to read as any datapad. Thundercracker wasn’t rejecting Bumblebee or trying to get rid of him.   
  
Thus Bee wasn’t discouraged in the least as, once more, he closed the distance between them. Honestly, Thundercracker would be disappointed if he did. So his fingers gently ran over that arm again, the jet’s wings twitching in response. To the jet, the touch was not unwelcome. If he were more honest with himself, he wanted it. He wanted more, really. They were friends, yes. That was what they called it because calling this anything else would make it _real_ between them. It wasn’t something that Thundercracker was willing to come to terms with. Something like that would imply that he _cared_.   
  
“Why?” Thundercracker nearly hissed, noting how that saboteur was already dipping his fingers into the jet’s plates.  
  
The look that Bee gave him said everything that he was afraid of. Those azure optics were sad, the Autobot never hiding what he was feeling on the inside like Thundercracker did. They were apologetic too, which made the jet even more upset deep down. The truth was that Bee really didn’t want to choose. Bumblebee felt that this was his duty. He needed to return to their home to see the aftermath of the latest battle - to regroup and reconnected with the rest of the faction. There was no real choice in the mater. Thundercracker never even stood a chance.  
  
“They need me,” Bee responded, bumping his helm against Thundercracker’s, thankful that the ex-Seeker didn’t pull away.  
  
How could he, anyway? _I need you_ vibrated throughout his very core. The revelation itself was hard and it would take his toll. It was like there was ice in his energon lines that spread throughout his systems from his toes to his wingtips. Bumblebee was leaving and there was nothing he could do to stop him. The only person he even remotely liked was going to leave and return to that nonsense on Cybertron. Decepticons and Autobots would always fight. There was no hope for peace or any sort of resolution between the opposing factions. This was possibly the last time that he’d even see the stupid yellow car and everything in him screamed at him to do something. _Make Bumblebee understand_. Yet, he did nothing.  
  
For once, that expression was unreadable to Bumblebee. He wasn’t able to quess what sort of things were working themselves out in Thundercracker’s mind. There wasn’t really enough time for him to say everything that he wanted to - that he cared about this jet sitting here. Bee needed to make the moment count. Thankfully, he never failed to deliver on that. His lips  descended on Thundercracker’s. It wasn’t a gentle brush of pliant metal against metal, but full on contact. When Bee wanted to use words, he did. When Bumblebee needed actions to convey his thoughts, he did. Thundercacker would get the message, as he always did, though he didn’t return the gesture.  
  
“Are you done?” he said, once Bumblebee pulled back and the static charge on his lips died down. His spark was not unaffected, but he was already distancing himself from this as best as he could.   
  
“I’ll be back, Thundercracker,” Bee promised, wishing for more of a reaction but knowing that he’d get none. He knew his kiss and its meaning was received and that was all that he could ask for.  
  
Thundercracker merely looked in the other direction. “They’re waiting for you, aren’t they?”  
  
“Yeah, I guess they are,” Bumblebee sighed, pushing himself away and rubbing the back of his helm. Gone was the intimate moment and he fell back into the plucky little Autobot. “Kinda didn’t tell them where I was going when I tore off from the base. They better not have pulled a Rodimus and left me behind.”  
  
“So then go.”  
  
Bumblebee wasn’t upset with the tone. Instead he just gave a little smirk and a shrug. This was his way of saying goodbye, he supposed. A guy like Thundercracker, if he liked you, would dismiss you with words. If he didn’t like you, then he’d just start ignoring you or, better yet, throw an insult your way. It was all right. Bee would just prove him wrong and come back when everything was settled. He’d show Thundercracker then. That was why he didn’t say much else, but gave a little wave and proceeded to transform and drive on back.  
  
Of course, once Bee was out of sight, Thundercracker immediately took to the sky. He didn’t watch any of his shows... Instead he flew to lose himself in his memories. 

 

* * *

  
  
“I never _liked_ you,” Thundercracker stated, turning his gaze from Optimus Prime with a sneer. “I was worried it would have been the little yellow guy - _that_ guy, I liked.”  
  
Perhaps it wasn’t the best idea to snap at the large Autobot, but Thundercracker didn’t feel the need to be polite. It was what he heard next that would mean something anyway, since the jet was already starting to tune the Autobot’s true leader out.  
  
“...Bumblebee is dead,” the Prime replied. “He died saving the universe, if that matters.”  
  
No, it didn’t matter. Despite how he reacted on the outside, inwardly Thundercracker knew that the universe was darker for the loss of that light. Long ago, the jet came to understand that if more Autobots back then had been like Bumblebee, then there wouldn’t have been a war to begin with. That little yellow bot had a way of worming his way into someone’s spark casing. He did it with Thundercracker and the ex-Seeker didn’t doubt that he wasn’t the only one of that guy’s victims either.   
  
“No, it doesn’t. The universe,” Thundercracker started, quieting the ache he felt in his spark, “the universe is _overrated_.”  
  
What had the universe ever done for him? It was overrated, compared to that one Autobot. That Autobot that never was praised like he should have been. The yellow one that was capable of seeing beyond the hatred and give people another chance. He defended the weak even when there was no hope for survival. That stupid guy would be a martyr, wouldn’t he? The more he thought about it, the more his internal rage swelled. The Autobots didn’t deserve what they were gifted with, with that one. Bumblebee was the most underrated one of them all and what did he have to show for it? Prime so easily spoke of the matter like it was a highlight on the five o’clock news.  
  
“Stupid little _yellow guy_ should have looked out for himself,” he muttered, unwilling to even say Bumblebee’s name. Perhaps saying it would make him forget.  
  
What he wouldn’t, though, would be that last lingering kiss that he should’ve returned. Every little touch and word uttered to him in both daylight and moonlight replayed in his mind in a mere few astroseconds. It was something he’d never get back and, it would appear to him, he’d be the only one left that it meant something to.


End file.
